Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Need to fix relationship with Food

It is getting increasingly more difficult to hide behind
layers of clothing.The weather is
finally starting to feel spring-y.That
means T-shirts and jeans…Which would be
fine if I fit into my t-shirts and jeans.

Binge eating and emotional eating.I relate to both.I have a very unhealthy approach to
nourishment.For me, it’s survival, not
fueling my body.I have been trying to
change the way I look at food recently.I am aware I have a problem.I
have no idea how to fix it.

I grew up poor.My
earliest memories are from living in a trailer on the reservation with my
mother, father and sister.Then on to a
townhouse apartment with my mother and sister after the divorce.Things seemed okay then.I don’t remember ever being hungry, or
wanting other children’s food, or trying to gather food while we still lived in
Canada.

When I was 5 or 6, my mother moved my sister and I back to
her hometown in the Bronx, NYC.We all
shared a bed in one bedroom of a three bedroom 10th floor co-op.The apartment was filled to the brim with the
belongings of the other 9 people who lived there.There was a path from the doorway to the
kitchen that was clear of debris.Everywhere else was covered with clothing about a foot deep.

I’m not telling you this for sympathy. I want to paint a
picture of the radical change my life took moving to the US from Canada.My mother didn’t have any income.She couldn’t find work because her MS was
degenerating at an alarming pace.She was
able to walk with a cane when we left Canada.Soon, she wasn’t able to move from the bed, not to mention the
conditions were not ideal for a disabled person.

One of my earliest American memories was getting yelled at
when I found a stale pack of croutons under the kitchen table and tried to
share them with my little sister.It’s
so messed up to think about those “relatives” of mine who didn’t care that we
were so hungry.My mom found her late
father’s penny collection.We would sit
at the bank and roll pennies for hours and buy snacks at the gas station.

This all led to a very unhealthy view of food and
nourishment.Mom finally got us out of
there and into our own apartment when I was in 6th grade.We lived on Davidson Ave until I moved away
at 17.One thing about NYC, no one
cooks.It’s so easy to grab something on
the go than buy groceries and prepare a meal at home.Besides, Mom wasn’t a cook.If I ever ate at home, it was when Mom made a
roast and Yorkshire pudding or she bought a bag of chips, the huge family size
bags.I would eat an entire bag and
nothing else for the rest of the day.

Now eating like that wasn’t a big deal back in NYC.I walked miles and miles every single
day.My best friend lived in Riverdale
which is notorious for their steep hills.My train stop was 176th off the 4 train.It was elevated so there were several flights
of stairs.Then I had to drag my ass up
these stairs to get home.

Google Search - Davidson Ave Stairs

I went to Brooklyn Tech HS which brought me though
Manhattan.I spent many many MANY days
and nights in “the Vill”.My friends
and I walked everywhere.It was nothing
to walk from the “Dollar” theater (I think it was actually about $3 back then)
on about 53rd street down to the Winter Gardens at the World Trade
Center to role play Vampire : The Masquerade a few times a week.I never actually exercised but I didn’t have
to.

I felt good.I looked
good.I felt strong.Nowadays…not so much.I moved out to the
Midwest on impulse when I was 17.I have
to drive everywhere.I have a desk
job.I have 4 kids.I never work out.I look like hell, feel like hell.I don’t know how to eat.Sounds stupid, right?I have no idea how to feed myself.

As a child, I would eat as much as possible at school
because I didn’t know when I would eat again.I ate anything that I got my hands on (except for an incident when one
of my aunts made me sit at the table until late at night trying to make me eat
cold Brussel sprouts).I ate when my
friends gave me food.I ate when their
family fed me (many a time there was a Russian or Puerto Rican mother who
exclaimed I was too thin and made me eat).I ate free samples.I just ate
whenever I could.

Now, I find myself hoarding food.I buy food and don’t eat it because I’m
afraid it won’t be there later when I would be hungry.There were times after moving out on my own,
I went hungry.If my kids needed
something, I would go without.I have
conditioned myself to think food will be taken away or there will not be enough
food when I need it.

I eat when I’m happy.I eat when I’m sad.I especially
eat when I’m nervous or anxious.I eat
all the time.I can’t stop.It is a huge problem.I need to fix my relationship with food.I am now facing diabetes, heart problems,
joint problems…Not to mention what it’s
done to my self esteem and self image.We won’t even go there for now.

Is there a way out?How do I change a lifetime of unhealthy thoughts, feelings and actions
regarding nourishment?

4 comments:

It will take time but I like to think with determination anything is possible. I am from Canada and I do know the local CLSC offers the help of a dietician for free. is there something like that in the US? I think perhaps a dietician could help you with this. Not that this was anyone's fault but it sounds like you were never taught how to eat. My husband is the same way. he will hoard because he thinks his food will be taken away. It is a sad vicious cycle and I wish you all the best. Thank you for sharing such a personal story!

My grandmother used to hoard food. I think it came from being little during the Depression. After that, she had five children to feed, and she never stopped buying like she had five children. She was a beautiful person and really cared for the people around her. Part of how she showed us this was by feeding us. In fact, I thought it was normal to eat until I had a stomach ache after every meal until my mom told me to eat until I felt "comfortable."

I think one way to remedy this habit is to start planning your meals. Plan out what you will have, and keep your meals and snacks in individual containers. (Also, Amy's frozen meals are good if you don't want to cook). Also, eating a little bit slower will force you to slow down and enjoy the food. Food is not just for nourishment, but for enjoyment and bonding with others!

There's a free PDF recipe book called "Good and Cheap" that has a lot of healthy, relatively easy to prepare meal and snacks: https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf

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